Manitoba gets mixed reviews in national home care report

Manitoba’s home care program got mixed reviews in a national report by the Canadian Home Care Association.

Manitoba was lauded for being the only province to recognize caregivers in legislation and provide a tax credit.

But Canadian Home Care Association director Nadine Henningsen said the amount of public funding for home care is going in the wrong direction.

According to Henningsen, Manitoba spends above the national average of health-care dollars on home care. But in the last five years, the province has decreased the percentage of its health-care dollars it spends on home care from 6.2 per cent in 2008 to 5.8 percent in 2010/11.

She said home care funding has slipped to less than six per cent of health care funding in the last five years.

“If you’re decreasing the funding, how are you going to continue to support those really good programs?” said Henningsen.

Other problems include getting home care in more rural areas.

“The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is definitely a leader in your province, but what are the other health authorities doing and how is the province helping them move forward?” asked Henningsen.

“We don’t see that coordinated approach happening in Manitoba as much as we do in other provinces.”

Henningsen there needs to be a better system to track and measure how front-line care is delivered province-wide.

One in six Manitoba seniors receive home care and that number is expected to nearly double in the next 20-25 years.